Review : Break Blade

Break Blade, has a movie and manga. But, I did not watch the movie or read the manga. Still, I invested my time in this anime as a weekly show and came back to it every now and then, and after finishing the anime I think that this anime is the most underrated anime of the gone past spring season! (I'll be more specific below.)

Story

The story of the anime is not nuclear science but its solid nonetheless. On the continent of Cruzon, everyone has some degree of innate ability to telekinetically manipulate quartz. This ability is the basis for much of the land's technology, from projectile weapons which shoot quartz bullets to vehicles to even farm implements. Rygart Arrow and his younger brother are the extremely rare exceptions: they are unsorcerers, individuals who completely lack any such ability, which both effectively handicaps them and makes them outcasts. Though this inability to manipulate quartz gets Rygart to pilot the ancient but very advanced Golem and then he reluctantly battles to protect the two friends he loves from the war of Krishna and Athens.

Characters

The characters were interesting at the least. Our MC, Rygart Arrow starts out as the typical nice guy pacifist that won't even step on an ant but then as the series progresses he accepts the necessity of fighting. Sounds Familiar? Yup People, expect the expectable. The main villain (Borcuse) is stereo-typically bad and has one soft spot which we will forget about until it is over. There is also an angry girl (women in this case) that beats crap out of everyone as the only solution. There will also be our typical comedic relief in the disrespectful manner for women. Overall, the good things of the characters were development of the main character, nice merit in form of mature cast (almost only adults) and the back-stories of certain characters. Of course as in every mecha show, all characters have their own way and philosophy but it's always simplistic!

Animation and Sound

The animation and the artwork were the biggest selling point of this whole show. Gorgeously looking mechas clashing with each others in both close and long ranged combat using all sort of weapons, from press guns shooting hard metal rods to big ass swords, shields and axes. Fighting sequences were very well choreographed and some of them really got me hyped. Mecha's looked unique and different from the ones from other shows. Characters-designs felt closer to generic because of stereotype kind of look. Backgrounds Animations were great, but mostly the same thing; deserts and stones but they still looked pretty realistic. 

For the sound, soundtracks were composed from decent and sometimes more than decent pieces of classical music, but then there was nothing outstanding in it. My favorite piece would be song called "Heroes". The other noteworthy thing were the sound effects, sound of firing press gun and clash of swords always got me exited and I got more drawn into the fights.

Enjoyment

I definitely enjoyed this series. But, because of one main reason : The battle sequences of the Mechs. (Mother of god!) I've seen Gundam and what not, but this is just over the top deluxe mecha fighting like any boy or man dreams of! This is why, It may not give you an interesting story or amazing characters like other mecha anime but it will blow you out of your socks with the animation and the mecha's battling the shit out each other.

Overall, I had a very hard time scoring Break Blade, because personally I found it very enjoyable but objectively it's nothing outstanding just a generic mecha show with lack of ending but having pretty visuals. So I will go with an completely average score (3 STARS). Though, I still think that if you're a mecha fan, you'd be a fool to miss it out!

3 STAR ANIME.

Click to view my ratings guide.